About Me

This is my eleventh year as a library media specialist at Norton High School. Prior to that I taught science for five years at Southeastern Regional, but started my post-college life doing chromosome analysis in the cytogenetics lab at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. When I'm not at school I enjoy spending time with my husband and two boys.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Welcome back to school and to my blog. I expected to write about a few of the books I read over the summer, and I will do that, but today I'm blogging about my new and unexpected foray into English teaching. I am still running the show here in the library but I am also teaching one senior English class and so far I am really enjoying it. It's been ten years since I've been a classroom teacher and there have been plenty of changes in that time. The biggest change is the block schedule. Granted, I have lived in some form of a block schedule for the past nine years, but never as a classroom teacher. It may be a little premature, but so far I am really enjoying this format. I like the 90 minute classes and I even ran out of time today and will have to finish an activity on Wednesday. As an English teacher, I like the "every other day" format because it gives students more time to read, digest, and review whatever it is we are reading. It also gives me a little breathing room for correcting. I like that students have a little more flexibility with time management and homework. It is also good preparation for college as most classes are longer and traditionally do not meet every day. It takes some planning on the part of the teacher to vary the activities within the block but it also gives the teacher some flexibility to do more. Today's biggest challenge was the bell schedule. My class was during the lunch block and we had second lunch. I was surprised when lunch arrived so quickly. Trying to discuss a book with the lunch bells going off was also a challenge. They are irritating enough in the library but when they interrupt someone speaking it's down right maddening. I realize it is a fact of high school life and I will adjust but I think it will take a little time. What do you think of the block schedule? How do you feel about G-Block?